Patrick Hemer - More Than Meets The Eye

The obvious Transformers jokes have no place here; there is just some seriously great metal waiting for you on this CD.One of the reasons you get into the metals is for the incredible guitar, right? Well, that's one of my reasons anyway. A big part of what got me into metal in my earlier years was listening to various guitarists putting out their stuff in the 90s (and thank you, Mike Varney) So, I'm always down with a good guitar-based album to jam to while I take care of whatever I gotta take care of during my day. It just makes the menial things of the day easier to tolerate.

So, here we are with one Patrick Hemer, guitarist extrodinaire. I mused recently about who is in the new guard of master studio musicians, and apparently, Patrick is one of those guys. What is it about session guitarists that seem to end up as lead singer and guitarist for their own awesome metal bands? Like Dan Huff and Michael Thompson before him, Patrick Hemer has released his own CD, More Than Meets The Eye, and the simple fact is this is a great guitar album. Hemer's gots chops for days, and it's good to say that he displays them tastefully within the context of well-written, meat and potatoes metal (as Rags would say), with glorious nods to the progressive and power metal stylings of bands like Symphony X or Malmsteen. With the majority of the album's tracks going over the five minute mark, you get a healthy dose of Patrick's 7-string fretboard wizardry (beautiful overdriven tone, by the way), including some Bettencourtesque riffage on Edge of Insanity (3:30) and Legend In Your Own Mind, some killer harmonized runs on the intro to For All Eternity (0:14) and Firelight, the grand scale (a la Blue Murder's Valley of the Kings) of Panem Et Circenses - the list goes on for the ingredients of a satisfying metal meal. Holy shit, this album kicks ass, with some very respectable vocals from Patrick and a great rhythm section in Tom Wagner (drums) and David Casanova (keyboards). Crank this one up.

The Bottom Line: I don't know what's in the water over at Studio Musician University, but more people need to go there and put out albums like this one. Patrick Hemer has been a well-kept guitar secret for far too long. All I can say is MORE, MORE, MORE!

Tracks That Make You Look At Your Neglected Guitar Shamefully: Firelight and Terra Incognita (the two instrumentals on this CD are fucking awesome) - and the entire rest of the album.

- Genghis had everybody looking funny at him while air guitaring to Firelight like a man possessed...

The Magnificent (self-titled)

These guys have earned their name. Their Scandinavian brand of guitar-driven melodic rock is...well, you know.Man, I love me some melodic rock bands. And I mean like old school stuff, with lush choruses and sweet, shredding solos - and hair teased up bigger than a Texas debutante. I'm not saying it's Beethoven or anything, but like your favorite dessert, you don't question the intellectual merits of it, you just savor it with a satisfied smile.

The Magnificent is a Scandinavian band (with members from Norway to Finland) made up of two talented dudes with a common love of this genre of music. Michael Eriksen (vocalist for Circus Maximus) and Torsti Spoof (guitarist/producer for Leverage) have made a damn fine album of melodic rock tunes that evoke the best of bands like Nation, Harem Scarem, or even Joe Lynn Turner-led Malmsteen (Cheated By Love especially evokes some Yngwie-esque riffage).

The Bottom Line: European bands know how to make some kick ass melodic rock, so put on your spandex, unbutton your pirate shirt, and get ready to air guitar your ass off with The Magnificent.

Aquanet-soaked Tracks: Satin & Lace, Love's On The Line, Cheated By Love and Tired of Dreaming (holy shit this song is good!)

- Genghis has never needed hair spray to get his hair all big...

Sep7ember - Strange Ways of Going Home

Hailing from Germany, Sep7ember is the type of band that should do well on radio and the club circuit, where their alternative rock music will likely keep a new generation of disaffected youth bouncing. The music is fine for what it is, being well-written and produced.

The problem here is that the band sounds like it came out of the 90s. And I have a hard time getting excited about a new band making music that sounds almost 20 years old (which doesn't explain the career of The Foo Fighters, I know). Don't get me wrong, they do it well. They're not phoning it in, putting on any sort of cheesy act, or otherwise not taking their craft seriously, that much is clear.

I don't necessarily know the current state of alternative music in Europe, so I can't say whether Sep7ember is standing out from the crowd or blending in with it. But if you like the kind of straight ahead, non-threatening, alt-rock they make, you'd do well to pick this disc up and throw it into your dorm room party rotation.

The Bottom Line: As if stepping out of a time portal from the mid 90s, Sep7ember delivers a well-produced brand of inoffensive, alternative rock for a new generation of listeners looking for music to pass the time.

Future WB Series Background Music: I Hate NY, Gods Are Laughing, So (unplugged)

- Genghis may not hate NY, but he sure ain't fond of Boston...

Michael Thompson Band - Future Past

While this album is chock full of great AOR tunes, à la Giant, a little more shredding would've been nice.I have been on a bit of an old school melodic rock kick of late, because I just can't resist the pull of hummable melodies mixed with the legato runs of killer guitar solo. The latest in that entry is the Michael Thompson Band, and it comes with a certain pedigree. Michael Thompson is something of an elite session player from the 80s and 90s, having lent his Berklee-honed talents to the likes of Michael Jackson, Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, Celine Dion, Madonna, Whitney Houston, as well as heavier acts like Vince Neil and The Scorpions. The guy's got the goods.

His eponymously named band put out their classic How Long album in the late 80s that was recently re-released with a few new tracks. And now he's teamed up with Larry King (not the TV guy), who adds some really great vocals to match the rest of the songwriting on this new CD, Future Past. It reminds me a lot of bands like Giant - also started by fellow master session guitarist, Dan Huff, who reportedly started directing his studio requests to Thompson when he moved to Nashville in the 80s. There's a lot of great guitar work on this album that's perhaps not as overtly flashy as Huff's was in Giant, but is perfect to the music. This guy's an old pro, and the music shows it. It says a lot about a musician that is called upon to work with so many big names for decades like this; it's like a basketball team from any era being able to call in a Michael Jordan when they need him the pull out the win for the team.

All of the staples of melodic rock/AOR albums are here to be enjoyed, with the requisite ballads and inspirational tracks, even if they may seem a little dated - but you can't question the musicianship, all of it is top notch. The only real complaint that you may levy here is that Michael Thompson could stand to be little more flashy (I'm sure this guy can shred), but that's just my taste; I just love the juxtaposition of pop melodies and fiery shred guitar.

The Bottom Line: If you need a melodic rock/AOR fix, this album should scratch your itch pretty well, keeping in mind the solos are on the light side.

Late Saturday Afternoon Tracks: Break Me Down, Future Past, Here I Am

- Genghis is wondering who's in the new guard of master session guitar players...

Junius - Reports From The Threshold of Death

Part of the growing movement of hybridizing goth rock and metalcore, Junius makes an interesting offering.There's an interesting trend in the hard rock/heavy metal world that's skewing more melodic, beyond the hummable melodies that are mixed in with the usual wall of sound.  It's a hybrid of the spacey rhythms of pop-goth acts with the more energetic tones of modern metal.  Imagine a scenario: it's 1989 and Metallica finishes their set on the "...And Justice For All" tour, leaves the stage, only to have The Cure walk on and play the same setlist using the same setup.  Now you may be getting the idea of what I'm talking about.

Junius is another new fangled metal act out of Boston that's got a different idea of what heavy music should sound like.  They're not full on metal, but they're not simple pop either.  They refer to themselves as dark rock despite the fact that their new album, Reports From The Threshold of Death, isn't particularly negative considering its subject matter. This is apparently their sophomore effort, but having never heard of them, I can't say how it compares as a follow up to their debut, The Martyrdom of a Catastrophist (yeah, they're all about those enigmatic titles), but they've been described as Neurosis meets The Smiths. 

The wall of sound these Bostonians create is dense but never harsh, such that when paired with [lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist, Joe] Martinez' wailing vocals, you feel like you're riding waves rather than them crashing over you. Interestingly, there's a nice touch of Vangelis to Joe's synths, giving to the overall mix the effect of different ages of music (80s versus the 2000s) as well as different genres.  It's an onion band, lots of layers going on here, and I really dig it.

The Bottom Line: Taking the genres of goth rock and metalcore into strange new hybrids, Junius is a band to be watched, especially if you're a fan of bands like Opeth or Canvas Solaris.

Tracks to light your black and red candles to: Betray the Grave, A Universe Without Stars, The Meeting of Pasts and Eidolon & Perispirit

- Genghis is looking forward to more from this group...